In addition to the primary function of a timepiece, which is to indicate the current time (hours, minutes, seconds or months, years) as accurately as possible, known devices of the prior art show that efforts have been made, on the one hand to make the perception of this time information more attractive and, on the other hand, to permit visual checking of the correct operation of the timepiece, it being possible for this checking also to participate in an overall attractive effect. This has often led to the primary function of time display being complemented by an animation from which one generally also expects the production of an aesthetic effect. This animation, which is expressed in a motif, is easily perceived by the eye of the user who is immediately informed of the correct operation of his watch, of the passage of a determined time interval or of the realisation of an event specific to the functions of the timepiece itself.
In watches with an analog display, visualisation of the correct operation can, for example, be effected by placing a motif (a person, flower, sun, etc.) on the second hand or by having a figurine beat the second or also by having the seconds axle drive a disc placed under a dial provided with one or several windows giving a view of the designs carried by the disc.
U.S. Pat. No. 372,074 describes, for example, an embodiment in which a disc is divided into six sectors, each having a different figurine which appears in a window in the dial every 15 seconds.
In Swiss patent 588,109, windows distributed about the periphery of the dial reveal sequences of stars.
In Swiss patent 360,345 visualisation of the beating of the second is effected by means of a shutter placed behind the windows and solid with the axle of the escape wheel.
In digital display watches, correct operation is very commonly indicated by the flashing of an illuminated guide mark, most frequently composed of two dots located between the hour and minute numbers. This principle has, moreover, given rise to numerous variants.
Belgian patent 772,949 describes, for example, a liquid crystal display device of the pseudo analog type in which the indication of the hour is given by changing the activation of the luminous segments appearing on the dial and representing the hour and the minute hands and by flashing of a different guide mark, such as a central disc for beating the second.
In a timepiece with an analog display, visualisation of the passage of a determined time interval is effected, for example, by the cooperation between windows and discs or crowns, or only by discs or crowns solid with the minute, hour, day or month wheels. Swiss patent 665,078, for example, describes a timepiece with special aesthetic effects which makes it possible to display a design in clear and comprehensible manner only every 217 days by cooperation of two discs.
Liquid crystal display cells have also made it possible to propose solutions making it possible to visualise the passage of a given time interval or to announce the imminence of a given event. A display of this type also makes it possible to visualise at the same time the beating of the second and to produce aesthetic effects.
British patent 2,050,008 describes, for example, an electronic watch with an alphanumeric display which makes it possible to progressively reveal the activated function from its activation until its realisation (for example alarm time).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,595 describes, apart from a classic digital display having seven segments, a figurine, the eyes of which beat the second according to 10 different, but repetitive modes.
Similarly, British patent 2,119,994 describes two displays, the first being a conventional alphanumeric display and the second being composed of a figurine composed of different elements connected, according to six selectable modes, to the conventional display segments, and activated at the same time as those to create a repetitive animation of the figurine.
Reference being made to the above-described state of the art and, more specifically, to timepieces having at least one liquid crystal display, it will be noted that, regardless of the appeal of the visualisation effect obtained, this is always repetitive in nature, following the regular rhythm of the passage of time. In other words, after a certain time, the user will necessarily be able to predict how the animation of his watch will develop and what the final motif will be.